Sunnyvale 2000
I wanted to post four times about the meeting. These posts will include:
I) A link to my PhotoPoint site with a photo album.
albums.photopoint.com
II) A short descriptive post about the Shareholders' Meeting.
III) A synopsis of the information Eli presented.
IV) A special presentation.
The SanDisk Shareholders? Meeting Part II
The meeting was informal, open and friendly. It took place in the company cafeteria. About one half hour before the meeting started one could mill around the room and chat. There was a continental breakfast as well. Also, Don Kadish, one of the technical support staff, had a table with several devices that used SanDisk CompactFlash and MMC (see photo). Last year he walked around with a brand-new Nikon CoolPix 950. This year he had the latest Casio 3.3 megapixel camera, an HP Journada running on Windows Pocket PC, a Cassiopeia E-105, a Nokia 9110 Communicator cell phone, an RCA Lyra, several very small MP3 players, a FlashPath floppy card, and the newest USB CF reader (the "flat whale"). Just as we were standing there chatting, Dr. Harari strolled up and greeted us with a very big smile and a handshake. He had with him a Korean made G3 cellphone with a built in MP3 player. He also had a 32MB MMC that he removed for us to see. Then he put it back into the phone and called up some music. We all passed around the phone and earbuds. The sound was awesome. Eli said he had demonstrated an MP3 player like this to YoYo Ma and a concert the SanDisk co-sponsored in the Bay Area. Virtuoso Ma was very impressed with the sound quality. I think that tells the whole story about near-CD quality. What's not to like about MP3?
Dr. Harari called the meeting to order and we were already 5 minutes late. He was very strict about remaining on schedule and concluding precisely at 10:00 am. As we sat down I counted the attendees which included executives and other employees of the company, the BOD, the auditors, a legal representative to witness the occasion, and shareholders. There were 40 people there plus Dr. Harari. There was a formal presentation on PowerPoint followed by a relatively brief Q&A period. The meeting adjourned promptly at 10:00 am. I had hoped for a slightly longer Q&A period since it is usually so difficult to get through during the conference calls. We did have the opportunity to ask several pertinent questions. Many shareholders stood up and basically expressed their thanks for the great job that the SanDisk staff had done the past 12 months under Dr. Harari's guidance. I believe that Eli was genuinely moved by the personal statements directed to him and his team at SanDisk. He was very gracious.
Before and after the meeting we got to meet some of the SanDisk staff. I met Sharon Spehar from Investor Relations, Don Kadish from Tech Support, Bob Goligoski of Public Relations, Mr. C. Van Orden, the Lead Corporate Counsel, and Farshid Sabet, Director of Applications Design and Development. Later I briefly met Nelson Chan and Bo Ericsson from Marketing. I was very pleased that several people went out of their way to say "hello" including Catherine P. Lego from the Board, Mr. Van Orden, Sharon Spehar, Bob Goligoski, and Farshid Sabet. Irwin Federman also acknowledged the Silicon Investors that attended. By the way, these attendees included myself, a very young-looking Jason Rooks, Jay Dreifus & Kathy, and Walter, who frequently lurks on SI and came to the meeting last year. We were also pleased to have Rog (Rogart) from The Raging Bull. Many shareholders traveled a great distance to attend.
My general impression was that the employees at the company were very happy. I would guess that the work environment is very comfortable and low stress despite the relatively close quarters. The corporate offices are very understated. I found a three ring binder in the lobby of the company. SanDisk contributes every year to various community organizations where the employees live. In some ways the company is like a little United Nations. The employees are from very diverse ethnic backgrounds. All share a common respect and admiration for Dr. Harari.
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